Elastic floor.



No. 796,727. PATENTED AUG. 8 1905.

' G. RFHUNT.

ELASTIC FLOOR.

APPLICATION FILED APB.5, 1905.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

ELASTIC FLOOR.

Patented Aug. 8, 1905.

Application filed .Lpril 5, 1905. Serial No. 254,048.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, CHARLES R. H NT, a citizen of the United States, residin gin the city of Sacramento, county of Sacramento, State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elastic Floors; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

' My invention relates to what may be termed an elastic floor, in that its construction is such as to impart to it a resilient yielding to pressure.

Theapplication of the floor is to any use in which it is desired to avoid the fatigue and soreness occasioned by long standing-such, for example, in stores and behind counters. Its special use, however, is to dancing, in which connection I shall describe its advantage. It is intended for any kind of dancing, especially that of social companies, for which purpose it is intended to be constructed in halls and rooms where such gatherings take place.

The general object of the invention is to relieve fatigue and soreness,such as results from standing a long time or from exercise on the feet. In dancing its utility is manifested by lessening the fatigue, by red ucing the resulting soreness of the muscles, and by yielding in the exercise itself a sense of springiness which a rigid support is unable to give. These results while due to the resiliency or elasticity of the floor are gained in practice not so much by a general yield: ing of the surface to the aggregate weight placed upon it, as by such a construction as distributes the elasticity over the whole floor in such a manner that the weight of each component of the company, whether single, in couples, or in groups, shall be sufficient to effect and produce said elasticity at any given area.

To this end my invention consists in the novel construction of the floor, which I shall now fully describe by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an edge view of my floor. Fig. 2 is a plan of the same, partly broken. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail taken at one of the ball-supports parallel with the joists. Fig. 4 is a similar view taken at right angles to Fig. 3.

A represents the joists of usual character and relative arrangement. Upon these joists are secured springs B. These springs in their best form are of wood, fashioned with oppositely-extending springy arms and with rigid middle sections, by which they are secured to the joists. They are arranged at intervals along the length of the joists, and preferably with a general regularity. Upon each end of each spring is seated a spherical bearing or ball C. In practice the balls are best made of steel, and they may be seated in any suitable manner which will keep them in place while allowing their perfect freedom of axial rotation. A good way to seat them is in the concavities of wearing places 0, secured to the springs, and a further security may be had from a freely-embracing wire bail 0. Upon these balls and extending parallel with the joists are laid comparatively thin strips D, and across these strips are laid and nailed the floor stuff E.

To hold the floor as a whole from movement horizontally in any direction, tie-strips F are secured to the under sides of strips D and thence extend in proper direction to the joists A, to which they are also secured. These tie-strips F, as shown in Fig. 2, have considerable length. They extend diagonally between the parts to which they are secured, so that by being made sufliciently thin they will, while serving the purpose of ties, be elastic enough to yield in their length. They thus hold the floor from horizontal movement without detracting from its elasticity.

In case it is desired to transform the elastic floor into a comparatively firm or rigid oneas, for example, in private houses where the elastic floor would be used only for dancing I have laid across the joists the locking-strips G. These are free to move longitudinally, and they lie just beyond the ends of the springs B. These strips have projecting from them the locking-blocks g, which are adapted by the movement of the strips to enter beneath the springy ends, and thus hold them rigid. Each strip has a rack g, with which engages apinion g on a crank-shaft g It will now be seen that while the floor is not subject to oscillation horizontally it will elastically yield to imposed pressure, and this yielding will take place at any given area over its surface, so that each dancer or each couple or group of dangers may enjoy the benefit in any locality. The elasticity is due not only to the springs, but also to the thin strips D, which yield between their bearings on the balls. It will also be seen that the yielding of the floor is permitted by the freely-seated balls which support it, and finally it is to be noted that such supports in the form stated and shown namely, sphericalgive the best bearings not merely in the ease with which they accommodate themselves to and com pensate for the floor movements, but also in the twofold advantage of being noiseless,in which they differ essentially from such supports as fixed blocks, which permit undesirable creaking, and in being adapted to be held in place and to turn in every direction, in which they are much superior to roller-supports, which necessarily twist outof place and are diflicult to hold.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1.- An elastic floor structure comprising fixed joists, springs 0n the joists, an overlying floor-surface, and freely-seated balls carried by the springs and supporting the floorsurface.

2. An elastic -floor structure comprising fixed joists, springson the joists, freely-seated balls carried by the springs, strips supported by the balls and fiooring laid on the strips.

3. An elastic floor structure comprising fixed joists, springs on the joists, freely-seated balls carried by the springs, strips supported by and resilient between-the balls and the flooring laid on the strips.

4. An elastic-floor structure comprising fixed joists, springs secured on the joists and fashioned with oppositely-extending resilient arms, balls freely seated in the arms of springs, and a floor-surface supported by the balls.

5. An elastic-floor structurecomprising fixed joists, springs secured on the joists and fashioned with oppositely-extending resilient arms, balls freely seated in the arms of the by the springs and supporting the floor-sar face, and means for holding said floor-surface against horizontal movement.

7. An elastic floor structure comprising fixed joists, springs on the joists, an overlying floor-surface, freely-seated balls carried by the springs and supporting the floor-surface, and means for holding said floor-surface against horizontal movement consisting of tiestrips between said surface and the joists.

8. Anelastic fioor structure comprising fixed joists, springs secured on the joists and fashioned with oppositely-extending resilient arms, balls freely seated in the arms of the springs, strips supported by and resilient between the balls, flooringlaid on the strips and tie-strips between said resilient strips and the joists to hold the flooring against horizontal movement.

9. An elastic -fioor structure comprising fixed joists, springs secured on thejoists and fashioned with oppositely-extending resilient arms, balls freely seated in the armsof the springs, afloor-surface supported on the balls, movable strips'supported on and across the joists, blocks on said strips adapted to pass under the spring-arms to lock them against resilient movement, and means for moving said strips.

In witness whereof I'have hereunto set my hand.

' CHARLES R. HUNT.

Witnesses:

MATTIE K. McCoMBER, B. F. DRIVER. 

